


Incandescence

by TheTacosAreHere



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Earthbound - Freeform, Headcanon, No Smut, Origin Story, Papyrus - Freeform, Sans - Freeform, Soul Magic, Souls, Torture, WD Gaster - Freeform, experiementation, no non canon pairings, origins of the skelebros, sans and papyrus headcanons, skelebros, soul magic headcanons, toby fox - Freeform, undertale - Freeform, undertale headcanons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-29 20:59:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6393559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTacosAreHere/pseuds/TheTacosAreHere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in·can·des·cence  (ĭn′kən-dĕs′əns)<br/>n.<br/>1. The emission of visible light by a hot object.<br/>2. The light emitted by an incandescent object.<br/>3. A high degree of emotion, intensity, or brilliance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I am Ksquared and I am gonna add to the plethora of Sans and Papyrus origin stories. I have had this headcanon for a long time and finally decided to put it into a story. There will be occasional edits once my editor gets back in the country, but for now you will have to deal with my horrible use of commas. I haven't posted a story since I was in high school and I am actually a little nervous hahaha. This story is based on a video GameTheory (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYdDUXyFocY) did on Sans origin and I just kind of ran with the idea. I don't expect to get much response to this since there are so many better origin stories out there, but I digress. Anyway I hope you all like it and feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Thank you so much for taking time to read this. There is wingding text, but I don't know how to get in into the story so yea.
> 
> My tumblr http://tacosareamongus.tumblr.com/

Prologue

Gaster winced as his machine smoked, red lights flashed as he desperately banged on the keyboard trying to isolate what had gone wrong. Sweat ran down his brow as he input long strings of complex code. He cursed himself under his breath he could blow the whole facility all for a whim. He could have ignored the strange readings and just moved on to work on the next stage of the core, but the thought of something unknown made his soul flare up in a way he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Finally isolating the malfunction he started the reboot process, but before he could press finish, a loud crash shook the whole lab, he grabbed the stand to avoid being knocked to the ground. All the lights went out and the red emergency lights were the only things on. He wasn’t sure what he expected when he turned around, but a large flaming machine was not it. There was no hole in the celing or any walls just on the floor. He stood there leaning against the keyboard stunned, had he actually managed to pull something through? Standing he studied the machine itself it was round, metal, and a strange energy enveloped it, as he reached out with his soul to feel the energy he found it uncomfortable. He recognized it, only one thing left you feeling that empty and foreign. The void. Gaster slowly took steps towards the strange machine when a bang made him recoil, it came from what he assumed was the cockpit, he waited unsure what was going to come out of it when door flew open and a small body fell out coughing.

He watched it with a brow bone raised as a large spasm wracked through it. It looked no older than a child. Its body was ashen and charred black, desperately clutching something in its arms. Curiosity consumed him and he tentatively reached out with his soul to examine it, but recoiled when it started screaming. The machine it had come from was now completely engulfed with flames. A low grotesque moan caught Gaster’s attention as another body crawled out from behind the machine. The thing was silver, but its body was melting and it dragged itself across the floor with its arms reaching out to the one screaming.  
He reached out again to the silver one halting its body with his magic, feeling also for its soul. His curiosity was getting the best of him again. He felt his soul flare up as he found nothing. There was nothing there, no soul, no heart, it was as if whatever it was, was just a thing, an empty husk. His mouth cracked into a smile, this was better than he could have hoped.

  
“Curious.”

His attention was caught by the other one whose screams were starting to fade and felt around again. The first thing he found was the soul was there, but it was broken like it had been ripped in half. The second thing he found made him laugh. There was no mirth, no joy in that laugh, it was cold and calculated. He felt his magic flow strongly through him as he picked up both bodies.  
  
“This is interesting, very interesting.”


	2. The G Files

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WD Gaster's files.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:This is a origin story about San and Papyrus. I know not like there isn’t already a plethora out there, but eh shrug. This is my head canon story based on the theory game theory did (found here). All of the files were written in Wingdings text, but it won’t show up in here for some reason. If I can figure out a way then yes I will be adding them in the future. The chapters will be longer in the future.
> 
> Do not expect updates so quickly in the future. I just had this chapter done and thought I would post it. The rest of the story will not be written in this format, this was just quick way to get a lot of story out in a short amount of time.  
> Thank you for reading again. Please feel free to comment or leave suggestions.
> 
> Trigger warning for abuse, torture, and experimentation. No pairings.

Chapter 1- The G Files

 

“Warning! some files are corrupted and cannot be accessed”, a metallic female voice rang out, echoing through the room. “Do you still wish to continue?”  
Text appeared on the screen  
Y/N.

Log Date 7/01/20xx  
The machine picked up a strange reading today, it seems the cores power is even more potent than I thought, the reading came from outside our timeline. Curious, I will have to try tinkering with the machine a bit more to see if I can get more accurate readings.

Log Date 7/05/20xx  
The machine managed to pull something through the barrier directly into the lab. I am still unsure how. Another machine and two bodies. One is merely an empty husk, I am only keeping it to gather new data. The other is what seems to be a human.

Log Date 07/07/20xx  
The humans soul is torn and fading. It seems to be in great pain, pulling it through the barrier seems to have caused immense damage to its soul and body. From what I can tell it is a male, but further testing needs to be done on both subjects before any conclusions can be made.

Log Date 7/15/20xx  
The subject is showing no signs of recognition, he has woken up several times now and each time he is only conscious for a few seconds before fainting again. The other one hasn’t woken up at all and due to the state of his body and soul, it is doubtful he ever will.

Log Date 8/05/20xx  
I have started calling the human “Sans”, it almost sound like what his name is when he says it in his sleep. I had to put sans in the stasis tank. He wasnt staying awake for longer than a few minutes. He will die if I dont. His soul is shattered and holding on by a thread. Some careful probing told me this human possessed magic at some point, the extent of his abilities is unknown. I The other one doesnt have a soul at all, his body is just an empty husk.

Log Date 09/31/20xx  
The subject “Sans” stayed awake a little longer today, but he still was weak. His flesh has started to decay, I had to add pain killers to the tank, in order to cease his screaming. I do not know what effect this will have on him in the long run, but I cannot let him die on me not when we are making progress no matter how small.  
While Sans was asleep I decided to do some work on the other one, who I have taken to calling Papyrus for no real reason other than it gave me a chuckle. It seems underneath the outer shell there is a skeleton. It is malformed and not of any human or monster I have seen. Intriguing, this one “Papyrus” may be useful after all.

Log Date 11/12/20xx  
I have no choice, I must try it, if I can succeed with Papyrus, then I will try with “Sans”. I cannot give up now, not when I am so close. He is slowly losing what life force he has left. The pain killers have begun to quit working and his screams echo the halls. I cannot risk someone finding out about him and Papyrus. His flesh is nearly gone now, left with nothing but bone underneath. How much agony can one person go through before succumbing to their fate? But after what it had taken to get him here, I will not indulge in that curiousity.

Log Date 01/03/20xx  
YES! It worked after nearly 2 months of careful planning I have managed it, Papyrus now has a soul, just a monster soul, but a soul none the less. I had to use my own as there were no way I could get away from taking a monster soul. The King is already getting suspicious of my activities.

01/06/20xx  
Papyrus woke up screaming, of course. All this noise is starting to wear on me. In order to keep him quiet. The transfer will be more difficult with Sans seeing as they already have a soul, but it has to be done. My soul cannot take being split again once Papyrus’ soul is healed fully I will do the transfer with his piece of soul with Sans.

Log Date 01/09/20xx  
How can you fuse two different souls? I know monsters can do it, but has it ever been done with a human before? I have to move quickly, I don’t know how much longer sans can survive. Too much was resting on him staying alive to let him succumb to death now. My own soul has begun to ache, it seems the transfer wasn’t as easy on me as it was Papyrus.

Log Date 01/11/20xx  
SUCCESS! Papyrus’ soul is fully healed and formed, he even asked me some questions today. Perhaps now we can begin the transfer with Sans. To be honest he recovered much quicker than I expected. First I want to run some “tests” with Papyrus. I am curious about his memory, he seems fully functional and coherent, but there is a naiveté in his eyes. An innocence I do not know where it came from.

Log Date 01/25/20xx  
It seems that no amount of “persusion” can jog subject P’s memory.  
Also note- the subjects will now be known simply as Subject P and Subject S. I cannot let myself get… attached. Too much rides on this, they could be the keys to breaking down the barrier without seven human souls.

Log Date 01/31/20xx  
Subject S almost fell today, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to monitor his vitals and they dipped. Still his soul held on. Such DETERMINATION even after so much, but I digress I have to start the process soon or I may lose him. He is now a complete skeleton. All his former flesh has been stripped away, there is still a bit of screaming, but nothing like before. He whimpers in his sleep though. This makes Subject P look nervous, almost concerned. Interesting. Subject P is no longer kept in the tank. I have made a cell for him in my lab. He is a curious thing, and asks a lot of questions. It is almost endearing.

Log Date 02/14/20xx  
I started the process using a piece of subject P’s soul, it went as well as I could’ve hoped. Subject S seems more stable now than before. For now they are both heavily sedated. They are both now out of the tank. I am running out of excuses to tell the King.

Log Date 02/20/20xx  
Subject S’s human soul is rejecting the soul, the screaming has started again. The pain is unbearable for everyone, I can still feel it. I have no choice I must push through, I didn’t come this far to give up. Perhaps Subject P’s soul wasn’t enough. Maybe he needs more than what just a monster can give…

Log Date 02/24/20xx  
I have no choice, I am going to lose them both if I do not do something. Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose. I injected Subject S with a vial of pure determination, no monster could take this much, but perhaps because his soul is half monster half human he can take it.

Log Date 02/26/20xx  
It worked better than I could’ve hoped; he opened his eyes and remained conscious for more than a few seconds. Subject P is awake as well, it seems the process has had an unexpected side effect on him. He has grown attached to Subject S. This could prove problematic.

Log Date 02/28/20xx  
Subject S spoke today, the first time clear words that have come from him since he arrived. He didn’t say much worth noting it was mostly just dribble, but he did say his name over and over again. He is still in a fog, but still a major breakthrough. When he is healed enough I am going to test the limits to his power.

 

Error. Error. Error. Error.  
The screen flashed the message casting a red glow over the computers surroundings.  
The loud metalic voice rang out again  
“The rest of the data files are corrupted.”

A lonely figure stood in front of the screen, as it flashed blue growling in frustration banging his hands on the keyboard. In a deep voice but no more than a whisper he spoke, “Bastard got to his files first. Heh should have figured.” He then pulled out a small red object and put it into the computer.  
“Copy files?”  
Y/N


	3. Of Flesh and Bone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Subject S wakes up. He and Subject P are beginning to show some interesting characteristics and differences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Just a friendly reminder this all takes place after Asriel and Chara died and the core is already built, but before Alphys’ experiments with DT. This also takes place in the Alpha timeline of Undertale not an AU, but it is purely head canon. I will be editing the story as soon, I am just waiting on my editor. The next chapter we get into the nitty gritty. Idea is based on this video Game theory did (here).  
> Thanks for reading and if you have any feedback I would greatly appreciate it. Sorry again my grammar and punctuation isn’t that good. My editor just got back and doesn’t have time to go over this story at the moment, so please bear with me in that regard. That being said I really like this chapter and had so much fun writing it.  
> The next update will not be for awhile as I have to finish it and edit it (albeit horribly).  
> **Still doesn't know how to add WingDings.**  
> No non canon pairings.  
> Trigger warning: Pain and Abuse (later).

Short rapid clicking was the first thing he heard as he started to gain consciousness. It was faint drowned out by the intense rushing in his head. A few minutes passed and with it the rushing. He wrenched his eyes open, but an intense bright light caused his head to throb again. Quickly shutting them again, he tried to focus on breathing to let the pain pass. He breathed in choking, as he tried to draw air into his lungs; each breath felt like sandpaper against his esophagus. He heard the light tapping of footsteps moving towards him. For the first time someone or something spoke; the words were deep, strange, and warped as if the air was rejecting them. Turning his head he opened his eyes slowly to look at where the voice was coming from. His vision was still blurry and he couldn’t make out a distinct shape, all he saw was a blur of black and white, the pain made him close them again.  
  
“Ah, good you are awake. Hello Subject S.”  
The strange words sparked with electricity; he could feel the static in his ears as the thing spoke. Blinking again, he tried responding, “My name is N…” he managed gasp out, his throat was so dry and every bit of him ached.  
  
“Do not speak just nod when I ask you a question. Can you do that?”  
He tried to speak again but all that came out was a choke of dry air, tears formed in his eyes as he nodded slowly.  
  
“It is good to see you finally awake Subject S, I am WD Gaster. “  
He carefully opened his to only a sliver, the figure came closer and he was able to get a clearer view than before. The man’s face was completely white and he was wearing a white lab coat with a black turtleneck underneath and where his eyes were supposed to be were only empty sockets, each eye was emphasized by a large cracks in the otherwise pristine white surface.  
Subject S nodded again, but deep down Gaster could see that he wasn’t going to give in so easily. This made the Doctor smile, not a warm smile but as cold and warped as his voice.  
It continued this way for some time, until the Doctor seemed satisfied with his answers. His own head was pounding now and he couldn’t see anything more than faint shapes and blurs in the background. When Gaster turned his back turned S carefully turned his head expecting to see his arm, but all that was there was white bone. All at once a spasm wracked through his body and he started retching. The Doctor turned around quickly with a needle full of a clear liquid. He tried to fight against it, but his body wouldn’t respond. There was a yellow glow coming from the empty sockets of the doctor as he came forward, a heavy weight pressed against his body. Gaster brought the needle to his chest and immediately it all went dark again.  
\-----  
Subject S groaned, he tried to move sit up. There was something soft underneath him this time; his hand felt the fabric underneath him. He tried to remember exactly what happened but it was all a blur. All he could remember was that voice, that cold unnatural voice echoing in his head. He opened his eyes, his head still felt fuzzy, but nothing like the pain from earlier. Swallowing hard, he noticed that it wasn’t so dry and he could breathe easier than before. He blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the light and his surroundings. His eyelids felt strange, heavy, but not unnatural. He reached his hands up to his face trying to focus his eyes, but as they floated into his vision, he screamed. Jamming his eyes shut hoping, praying he was hallucinating, but when he opened his eyes again the vision didn’t change, instead of flesh all he saw was white bone. His stomach lurched again and he started retching violently. Nothing came up. Crying out, his voice was raspy and deep, what was happening to him? Where was he? This can’t be real, how can this be real? He was shaking so hard his body ached and he was so confused. He curled into a ball clutching his head, closing his eyes just wanting to be anywhere except where he was. He continued to cry and shake until darkness finally took him once more.  
\----  
Gaster watched the young now skeleton from a distance, with a bemused smirk on his face. Eventually the young thing exhausted itself and fell asleep on the floor. He was starting to remember and subconsciously summoning the magic that was residing in his soul. Gaster could barely see it, but he could feel it. The powerful aura enveloped Subject S’ body as he writhed on the floor, even now the child held more magic than most grown monsters. Whether he could harness this power was yet to be seen. When Subject S’ cries died down, he turned his interest to the other skeleton who would be waking up soon. Subject P was doing well, but still didn’t remember anything from his former life. Gaster had exhausted every method he knew to get him to talk. He may just have to accept that maybe there were no memories perhaps he had just existed. This frustrated him to no avail, but there was nothing he could do about it now. If Subject P was no longer useful he would dispose of the body and take back his soul. Until then he would just have to wait until Subject S was finally strong enough. Turning his attention to a large screen behind him he lost himself in the seemingly endless data pouring in until a small noise brought him back. Turning around he saw the other skeleton begin to wake up. 

He had spent a lot of time observing the two subjects physical differences while they were both in the tanks. Subject P was tall and lanky, with a wide chest, when he spoke it was loud, warm, nasally, upper case, and boosted the room with an enthusiastic energy. As annoying as it was it was still rather interesting, where had this come from? Why had it reacted this way? He had tried to investigate, but it hurt his own soul to the point where he couldn’t keep going. He looked down at his chest pulling the white turtleneck down, the yellow glow which shone outside his ribs was diminished and there were clearly visible tears in the soul. Sighing he let go of the color allowing the shirt to cover him again, it actually made him uncomfortable to look at, he just hoped the sacrifice had been worth it. Turning back to Subject S whose body was short and wide, but more proportionate. When he spoke it was low, deep, cold, and lower case even when he was screaming. It was both intriguing and infuriating, why were they so different? He rubbed the back of his skull sighing, he would have to wait for his answer, as badly as he wanted them; he knew pushing Subject S too soon would be disastrous.  
“Patience, I must have patience.”  
\----  
Gaster stood outside of the door to the cell, he had decided to keep them together to save space and out of curiosity of how the two would interact. Subject S was wary of Subject P, while the opposite was happening with Subject P, he was very curious about Subject S. Very little interaction happened between the two. It seemed that S had significant memories of his past and of his time in the tank. Whenever he slept he would have nightmares. Sometimes small words would come through including a garbled G word, Gaster assumed it was his name and gave it no additional thought. During these episodes Subject P would immediately wake up and rush over to Subject S and hold him tight whispering small comforting phrases in his ear. He would rake his hands across his face and arms leaving deep gashes in the bones that bled slightly, even sometimes attacking the other skeleton. After the fourth time Gaster had seen fit to put S in a straightjacket, this didn’t stop the nightmares, but it did stop him from damaging himself. S obviously didn’t like it, but Gaster was left with very little options. He couldn’t keep healing them both; it was taking a lot of effort on his own soul. He would have to take more precautions or he could risk turning to dust.  
\----  
During the day, he would take Subject P away and leave S on his own. S would clasp his hands over his eyes and whisper repeatedly, “Don’t forget. Can’t forget” and “home” repeatedly. Sometimes a name would slip out, but Gaster could never make out exactly what he was saying. S’s soul was doing better, the magic in the monster soul combined with his and the extra determination was allowing the cracked soul to heal. It had taken several weeks, but eventually his soul was healed fully finally turning a bright cold blue. This surprised Gaster, as it made no sense as to why the soul changed color so drastically. Blue magic was immensely powerful, mysterious, and unpredictable. Only the most trained monsters having it and even fewer able to harness it completely. To see it coming from such a young thing was almost, unnerving. He would have to test the limits of Subject S’s power, but for now he still needed to rest.  
He decided to risk a peek at Subject P’s soul discovering it too had changed color, though not as drastically as S’. Still what should have been a yellow soul was now a bright fiery orange soul. He could almost feel the energetic heat come off of it. Orange magic was easier to manipulate, but was absolute, non-wavering, if someone with orange magic held a belief there was no shaking it. It explained the overwhelming enthusiasm Subject P possessed.  
He could feel the crack in his yellow soul deepening.  
\----  
He had to leave for an extended period of time today to work on the core to placate King Asgore, but he made sure to have all the cameras running. He was interested in what would happen between the two subjects when left alone for a long period of time. When he came back, they were asleep on their separate cots; he stepped into his private office to watch the camera feed and work in private. Anymore S was sleeping and if he was sleeping he was having a nightmare. The constant noise wore endlessly on Gaster. He had snapped at his newest assistant, Alphys, but she had babbled on inanely about trivial matters. By the time he left he was frustrated with a headache and she was nearly in tears.  
As expected when he first left, S was sitting on his bed, eyes closed, and rocking back and forth with his knees to his chest repeating the same mantra as always. P was also sitting on his cot, but in a more laid back position with his legs crossed he was working on a puzzle cube that Gaster had given him. In truth he really just wanted to see how long it would take before P got frustrated and gave up a test to see his orange soul’s persistence. It had been 3 days and there was still no look of resignation on his face. This went on for some time until S fell asleep, he was more prone to exhaustion than Subject P was; he supposed this had to do with the nightmares. He turned to his notes; he was looking for ways to improve the energy output of the core to help reach the outlying villages and not just New Home. The new assistant had been chosen because although she had very little magic ability her work with machines was impressive. He was impressed with her notes and compilations on how to improve the energy output without even seeing the core. He just wished she wasn’t so infuriating, not to mention she had an unhealthy obsession with human artifacts and culture. Still someone with her talent was useful, even if it came at a cost. Everything comes with a cost.  
It had only been a few minutes until rapid movement caught his eye. S was flailing violently in his sleep the straightjacket only hindered the movements slightly, P had put down the cube and carefully moved over to S, it wasn’t anything unusual until Subject P was thrown across the cage by what seemed to be an unseen force. Raising his brow bone in surprise, Gaster saw S standing with a look of pure rage and terror etched on his skeletal features. P looked frightened, but determined to get back to S didn’t hesitate to move closer to the other skeleton. Gaster watched them intruiged, it had to have been S who threw him, but he couldn’t see how. Watching much more intently, he saw it. Blue flames were creeping up Subject S’s body licking the young ones bones. He was screaming and although there was no sound through the feed, but he could tell this was different than the terrified bellowing he expressed in his sleep. This was a deep ethereal scream; unformed magic appeared all around him. His left eye shining the same vivid blue of the flames, but Gaster could see a hint of yellow flashing amidst the blue. This was unprecedented; Gaster could never have guessed this would happen. A deep wide smile formed on his face as he watched the feed with a renewed intent. As the magic swirled around him unchecked, Gaster could see the weight of it pressing his body down as it turned in on its conjurer. He wished he could have seen this display in person as the camera could only covey the raw energy being formed around the small skeleton, but not how it felt. However it was still impressive. Subject P seemed to have regained some control of his body; he practically crawled over to the collapsing skeleton and wrapped his arms around him. This also surprised Gaster, if the taller skeleton had any sense he should have stayed far away from the other, but instead he went against basic instincts to calm Subject S. Subject P’s eyes glowed orange as his own magic flared up, trying to overpower the other. Gaster could almost feel the two energies conflicting, intense heat and overwhelming cold, each fighting for control. It took a long time, but Subject P finally coaxed him down and the magic dissipated completely. He stroked the other skeletons skull trying to comfort him, enveloping him in warmth and comfort. Gaster could see S weakly pulling away, but failing as Subject P’s resolve was steadfast. He finally gave up collapsing into the warmth as he sobbed. They just sat there for a long while until S fell asleep. In a surprising spur of strength Subject P carried S to his bed and laid him down before going back to work on the cube, but within minutes was asleep as well, the cube rolling out of P’s hands and onto the ground.  
As he rewatched the tape, he paid careful attention to Subject S’ and P’s body language and movement. The doctor smiled that same mirthless smile as he rewound the tape to watch the blue magic creep up the small skeleton’s arms, it was beautiful. He had never seen any monster hold this amount of unbridled power. Given time and training Subject S could be even stronger than the King. His smile widened, “I think it is time to begin.”  
�4m�d�


End file.
